Loganic Living

06.26.2008

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 13:23:00 -0400

Well, it’s been too long since I’ve updated you on the goings on of my little corner of the world. Have you missed me? My zucchini’s are growing like weeds, both tomatoes are beginning to flower and growing well. The beans are going well, and the eggplants are…growing steadily? They’re not huge, but I also sort of have them squashed (get it?) together a little bit. We’ll see what happens, I guess. http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3030/2604651918_4f0b4e9d6e.jpg?v=0

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3285/2604651134_e727c9b41f.jpg?v=0

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3066/2604651292_8371e3ff73.jpg?v=0

Everything seems to be thriving in the rooftop environment. They seem to like all the sun, and the heat is evidently okay as well, because I’ve not had so much as a withered leaf yet. I’m so excited to start harvesting - hopefully it won’t be long!

I started saving leaves I prune from any of the plants, as well as organic scraps (including rinsed eggshells) in a quart container. I just filled it this morning, so I blended it up with some water, poured it back into the container and capped and dated it. My idea is that if it sits for a week or so, it should be something of the order of compost tea. I figure at least it won’t do the plants any harm, and it has at least a reasonable chance of giving them extra nutrients…plus I’m cutting down on trash output.

The farmstand in Reading Terminal is officially amazing - now that it’s the end of June there is SO much fresh delicousness available it very nearly blows my mind. I bought “cheddar cauliflower” the other day (a breed with an orange color and sweet flavor cheddarcauli.gif) which was as great tasting as it is great looking. I steamed some with salt and pepper and roasted the rest as per Abby’s recipe (http://www.goodnplanty.com/good-n-planty/2007/7/2/fennel-frustration.html) and it came out so flavorful I couldn’t stop eating it. If you told me a year ago (or 10 years ago, ha) that I would be eating cauliflower like popcorn I would never ever have believed it - I’m a cauliflower success story. Next time (oh, there will be a next time) I need to pat it dry before roasting, because it wasn’t as crispy as I could have hoped, but I’m willing to take the blame for it. Also, just a thought - roasted cauliflower + fondue. Oh man.

This is part #8 of a weekly-ish series, so please bookmark this site if you want to follow me and my zany adventures. I’m also very interested in your feedback - questions, comments, advice, name-calling, etc. Thanks for reading!

6.04.2008

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 16:31:00 -0400

It’s a good thing I’m raising plants and not children because I would be an asshole of a father. It’s not that I abuse them, or neglect them, I just put all my other priorities before them. Whoops. That being said, I now officially have a container garden on my roof. (http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3013/2550878131_d6626a9d5e.jpg?v=0)

Eight bean plants, three zucchinis, two tomatoes (one of each breed), and two eggplants, again one of each. I need more dirt and more containers in order to transplant the rest and have so far not had time (read: made time) to get them.

Of the lucky plants that won the cosmic raffle and made it to the big leagues of my roof, things are going well. I ripped one zucchini plant out this morning (more on that later), and pinched a few leaves here and there, but nothing has been droopy or had a poor reaction to being transplanted. I’ve walked by a few community gardens over the past week, and it doesn’t seem like I’m winning any contests. Most tomato plants are much taller than mine, and really to be honest most of everything looks quite a bit bigger. C’est la jardinage.

When I initially planted the seeds, the zucchini’s were by far the fastest to germinate. I feel like I might have made a mistake in planting them with the rest of the plants, because while they broke the soil and got much larger than the other plants quickly, it seemed like they soon reached a point where their growth stagnated and then they even started to wither. Of the four I planted initially, three limped their way to the roof, and of them, two had begun to flower, so they’re still in the game…for now. (http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3013/2550877543_712cf4485a.jpg?v=0)

In the place of the one I pulled out, I planted two new zucchini seeds in hopes that at least one will germinate as quickly as the last group, but this time have the benefit of adequate nutrients. I’m not sure if it will work, but for the record, I have high hopes that my elementary zucchini theory will turn out well.

In other news, while I do occasionally indulge in terrible food choices (I had Crown fried chicken at 4am a few nights ago…), the better part of my diet is pretty amazing. For example, this morning for breakfast I had toast using bread from a local bakery, organic scrambled eggs with locally grown scallions and locally produced cheese, and fantastic bacon from a local farm. For lunch, a (local) sweet bologna sandwich with same said cheese and bread. You could say I’m loco for local. No, really, say it. Tell everyone. Maybe I’ll get sponsored.

This is part #7 of a weekly series, so please bookmark this site if you want to follow me and my zany adventures. I’m also very interested in your feedback - questions, comments, advice, name-calling, etc. Thanks for reading!

go download dark meat, btw. (no homo. lawl)

Fri, 30 May 2008 18:16:00 -0400

i stopped using this for about a week when my computer stopped working, and it broke the habit. so now i have to start over, and it’s going to take a little work. bear with me!

5.30.2008

Fri, 30 May 2008 11:15:05 -0400

This week has been retarded, BUT I did get all the soil I need, and as soon as I get home from work today, them bitches is goin’ in the ground. I need to take photos and do a blog for Abby, it’s been too long.

5.24.2008

Sat, 24 May 2008 08:23:44 -0400

I think I’m gonna stop procrastinating tomorrow (ha) and transplant all the seedlings into containers. That means I have to get dirt, and potentially some more containers, but it’s definitely time…I could harden them off more, I’m sure, but whatever…only the strong will survive.

In other news, it’s def becoming farmer’s market season so I need to find out where and when they are around me and get to shopping.

5.21.2008

Wed, 21 May 2008 11:48:00 -0400

woooow fried green tomatos are amazing. i got sweet bologna from grass-fed beef (also amazing), chocolate yogurt from pequea farms, sweet potatoes, butter milk…yummm…i found bulfinch’s mythology at the book store there, too, which is amazing. I’m pretty excited at how this day is starting.

5.20.2008

Tue, 20 May 2008 12:34:00 -0400

i’m kind of getting sick of chicken salad. It’s all gone, just in time, too. I ate it for all three meals today ugh :{

i also had my plants outside to harden off today, and left them out there while i was at work…whooops. when I got back they were a little waterlogged, but not too much worse for the wear (hopefully - i guess i’ll see tomorrow morning if there were any ill effects I didn’t notice at first).

5.19.2008

Mon, 19 May 2008 12:56:00 -0400

I can’t believe how fast time passes. How is it the middle of May already?! More on point, that chicken salad is also easy to take to work so that makes it a triple word score. I can keep it 3-4 days according to this article, but I’m not sure how long it can be out of refrigeration (and in my bag) and still be good…I don’t think a few hours will hurt it. famous last words?

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Factsheets/ (i can’t believe how much this fascinates me)

Spelt pancakes/h2o

chicken curry salad salad.

5.18.2008

Sun, 18 May 2008 18:46:00 -0400

why do i never use this anymore? grrrrrr. i’m seriously about ready to stop using computers all together.

WIth the meat from the chicken I roasted the other day, I made curry chicken salad with a mix between these two recipes:

http://www.grouprecipes.com/46476/curried-chicken-salad.html

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/106566

In all, it had chicken, raisins, pineapple chunks, apples, and red onions. It took like 20 minutes total to make (minus the time to cook the chicken, but that was pretty passive), it tastes amazing, and it’s enough to eat on sandwiches or salads for a few days. score.

5.15.2008

Thu, 15 May 2008 08:50:17 -0400

I feel like the seedlings have grown so fast, but now they’ve hit a wall. I think they need to go outside pretty soon. I started putting them outside to “harden off” and found this article which does a pretty good job of explaining the process. I think if I have everything planted by the 25th of May I should be in good shape.

5.14.2008

Wed, 14 May 2008 12:53:00 -0400

lots of yogurt, i’m craving it the past few days for some reason. I almost ate toast, but i forgot it was being broiled and it ended up black. whoops. I pan fried a fish filet (idk what it was…it was in the back of my freezer…whoops again?) with salt, israeli pepper (from spice corner…it’s pretty good), and cayenne pepper, with mushrooms and onions sauteed in sake. not bad…eh.

5.13.2008

Tue, 13 May 2008 14:11:00 -0400

not having a computer is really starting to piss me off. grr..

2 scrambled eggs, toast, water

mmm…turkey/avacado sandwich from old nelson

5.10.2008

Sat, 10 May 2008 10:25:59 -0400

I don’t think I’m gonna make it home for mother’s day tomorrow, so instead i’m gonna try to get everything set for the garden…soil, shade cloth, etc.

bagel, pom white tea, apple

5.09.2008

Fri, 09 May 2008 10:19:00 -0400

apple, h2o

pizza (which burned the top of my mouth so badly it’s still blistered. OW!)

boiled chicken, white rice

5.08.2008

Thu, 08 May 2008 14:15:00 -0400

The past few days have been crammed with too many things to do…I need to order shade screens and get soil pretty soon because I’m going to start transplanting everything in the next week or so, I think.

Egg Fritatta with onion and capicola, h2o

iced tea, apple

quizno’s roast beef hoagie (it’s cheap and I’m broke, sorry)

2 lager’s, 1 manhatten

5.07.2008

Wed, 07 May 2008 15:07:00 -0400

I had a salad and a lot of water this morning. the salad was just lettuce, white onion, and cappicola with oil and vinegar on it but it was really quite good. I think i’m going to have sushi at Vic’s for lunch. Yumm.

In fact I did have sushi.

http://www.tsflowers.com/html2/peppermint.html - buy that

http://www.diet-and-health.net/Naturopathy/index.html - good botany website

5.06.2008

Tue, 06 May 2008 16:51:06 -0400

brunch-ish: salad with cappicola, mushrooms and carrots with balsamic dressing

lunch-ish: mozz. sandwich from trader joes, green plant juice, and a bar of chocolate.

rainwater

Tue, 06 May 2008 14:18:00 -0400

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainwater_tank

for reference… http://daxdefranco.tumblr.com/post/29742513

http://www.hustonrammedearth.com/rammed_earth_benefits.htm

5.05.2008

Mon, 05 May 2008 21:10:21 -0400

as i figured, I didn’t keep up with blogging this weekend. this morning i had a glass of orange juice, a glass of pomegranate juice, a wheat bagel and green tea at the bus station, and a whole bottle (!) of green food juice from trader joe’s at work.

so i didn’t go into today thinking of starting a juice fast, but…well who knows. it wouldn’t be the worst thing to happen to me.

5.02.2008

Fri, 02 May 2008 18:14:40 -0400

hmm…i had an omelette at little pete’s today because i was craving toast for some reason? that’s weird, right?

ack, i gotta eat something else. I’m going home this weekend for six million reasons and I doubt I’ll have time to post on here. f***ing dial-up :(

little pete’s

h2o

slice of coffee cake